Joseph cobbit



(No Model.)

J. OORBIT. STRAINING LEVER.

No. 244,034. Patented July 12,1881.

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UNITED STATES PATENT Orrin-E,

JOSEPH OORBIT, OF NEW YORK, Y.

STRAlNlNG-LEVER.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 244,034, dated July 12, 1881.

Application filed August 9, 1880.

To all whom it may concern Be it known that I, JOSEPH GoRBIT, of the city, county, and State of New York, have invented an Improvement in straining-Levers for Making Wire Fences, SW, of which the following is a specification.

In the operation of making wire fences by means of the usual implements it is necessary that two men work simultaneously in straining the wire from post to post, which renders the construction of such fences comparatively expensive, the work being, moreover, of a laborious character, owing to the difficulty of obtaining an effective purchase or leverage, combined. with a secure gripe, upon the wire by any of the implements hitherto used for such purpose.

, My invention is designed to obviate these difficulties; and it consists in a straining-lever composed of a certain novel combination of mechanical devices, whereby the construction of wire fences is caused to require only a single workman, and whereby the labor of this workman is enabled to be applied with the greatest advantage.

Figure l is a side view and partial sectional view of an implement made according to my said invention, and Fig. 2 is a side view there of at right angles to Fig. 1.

A is a long lever, upon one end of which is a fixed jaw, a, and which is preferably provided at the opposite end with a ring, b.

Placed on the jaw a is a movable jaw, c, which consists of a separate piece of metal placed upon the adjacent fiat surface of the fixed jaw a.

O is a screw which is operated by means of a suitable handle, 6, the smooth portion f of the shank of which said screw passes through a suitable hole in the movable jaw c, and the threaded portion 9 of which said screw screws into a nut or internal screw formed in the metal of the fixed jaw a. The annular shoulder to of the screw 0 rests upon the outer surface of the movable jaw c, in order that the innermost end of the jaw 0 shall be kept in due relation with the adjacent portion of the fixed jaw a. A bolt, 1', is passed through the said inner end of the movable jaw c, with its inwardly-projecting end fitted into a coinci- (No model.)

dent hole or recess in the adjacent part of the fixed jaw a.

In the inner side of the movable jaw 0, concentric with the screw 0, is a circular or annular recess, 0, in which is placed a spring, r, which tends to force the movable jaw 0 outward against the shoulder a of the screw 0, thereby tending to separate the two jaws a c. This spring may be most conveniently made of a ring or annulus of raw or suitably-prepared india-rubber, only a slight degree of movement on the part of the jaw 0 being required in the use and operation of the implement. The jaws a c are made preferably of steel, the lever A being preferably of wrough tiron.

In the use of the apparatus the screw 0 is turned to open the jaws to a sufficiently to permit the wire to be griped between the outer extremities of the aforesaid jaws, whereupon the said jaws are tightened .upon the wire by turning the screw to the requisite extent in a reversed direction, it of course being understood that the remote end of the wire has been already attached to one of the posts of the intended fence. The implement griping the wire, as just described, is then placed with the jaws to 0 against the post to which the wire is to be strained, the said post acting as a fulcrum in the use and application of the implement, whereupon the lever is moved around the said post or fulcrum to longitudinally stretch the wire, which may be done with extreme readiness and facility, and to any tension required, because of the multiplication of power secured by means ofthe long lever A. When the wire is strained to the requisite degree it is fastened to the post used as a fulcrum, as just described; or whena mere temporary holding of the wire is alone desired, as sometimes occurs in the work of putting up the wire fence, a rope is attached to the eye or loop at the outer end of the lever A, and is thence carried to a stake, post, or other fixed support, and there tied to hold the lever firm in position so long as the exigencies of the work may require.

What I claim as my invention is-- The straining implement for making wire fences, composed of the long lever having at one end the fixed jaw a, the movable jaw 0, other jaw to retain the inner end of the loose consisting of a separate piece of metal placed jaw in position, all substantially as and for upon the adjacent flat surface of the aforesaid the purpose herein set forth.

fixed jaw the screw 0, connecting the loose JOSEPH OORBIT. movable jaw c with the fixed jaw a, and the Witnesses: bolt 2', attached to one of the jaws and fitted JOSEPH MoKEE,

into a recess correspondingly placed in the JAs. A. MCDOWELL. 

